File photo:A rescue swimmer holds onto migrants frantically trying to stay afloat after falling off their rubber dinghy during a rescue operation by the Malta-based NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) ship in the central Mediterranean in international waters some 15 nautical miles off the coast of Zawiya in Libya, April 14, 2017. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi
The boat capsized after setting off for Europe from neighboring Libya. Four survivors have been rescued, who told Tunisian coast guards the ship was carrying around 86 people.
The coast of western Libya is one of the main departure points for African migrants hoping to reach Europe.
The International Organisation for Migration’s, IOM, Missing Migrants Project estimates 682 migrants have died in the Mediterranean so far in 2019.
Thousands of migrants have died in each of the past several years making the journey, although the numbers this year have so far been lower due in part to European-backed efforts to halt people smuggling from Libya.
